CS8 notes: Turner, Lanphier aim for outright championship

Thursday

Feb 23, 2017 at 10:00 PMFeb 23, 2017 at 10:00 PM

Ryan Mahan Staff Writer @ryanmahanSJR

Just because Lanphier High School clinched a share of the Central State Eight Conference title with its 65-50 win over Southeast on Tuesday doesn’t mean the Lions are approaching Friday’s regular-season finale at Chatham Glenwood any differently.

“This is the next game on our schedule,” Lanphier coach Blake Turner said. “It’s a conference championship game for us because we don’t want to share anything. We’re approaching it like it’s a big-time game. This is the game for us that wins conference outright.

“We plan on leaving it all out on the floor. We know that Chatham’s a tough place to play. They are competitive at home. Coach Blakeman does a great job preparing them for games.”

The Lions (22-3 overall, 15-2 CS8), ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Class 3A poll, will win the conference outright Friday with a win or a Southeast (18-7, 14-3) loss at Lincoln.

Turner said this game at Glenwood (9-20, 4-13) will be business as usual.

“If anything can prepare them for the postseason, it’s being focused, paying attention to detail and not getting away from what we have on the (scouting report) is what is vital to our success,” Turner said.

After many years of successful basketball in the CS8, Lincoln’s last conference game before it heads to the Apollo for 2017-18 is Friday night against Southeast at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium.

Since the conference began play in the 1993-94 season, Lincoln has the most conference championships — six outright and four shared — in the league. Southeast has six titles, including four shares. Of those, all but one was shared with Lincoln.

McGee has rebounded

Since scoring just three points in Lanphier’s 64-47 loss at Lincoln on Feb. 10, the Lions' Cardell McGee has put together a nice three-game stretch.

He scored 19 points in 19 minutes in a 64-32 win over Rochester on Feb. 14 before busting out with 33 points in 28 minutes as the Lions beat Jacksonville 70-61 on Feb. 17.

The junior poured in 26 against Southeast to clinch a share of the league title.

“Cardell’s definitely improved, but he’s always had the skill set to do the things that he is doing,” Turner said. “It’s just about being confident with the ball and making the right play. He’s doing a great job defensively. He’s getting away from gambling. Cardell is a great on-ball defender and when he gambles and takes himself out of position, it hurts us.”

Similar approach for Cyclones

Sacred Heart-Griffin coach Kyle Krager would like the season finale at Decatur Eisenhower (20-7, 12-5) to set the tone for the postseason.

“I want to see us impose our will,” the first-year coach said.

“We talk about, ‘What’s SHG basketball? What’s our identity? When you show up to play Sacred Heart, what are you going to get?’ The kids are starting to understand that they are going to get a good team that makes good decisions and really plays as hard as they possibly can.”

“He’s been thrown a lot of different terminology,” Krager said. “He’s a smart kid and he really studies the game. When I throw new concepts at him, he picks it up quickly. He’s one of those kids who, even though he’s only 14, we rely on him to know where people are supposed to be on the floor.

“The biggest thing for him is the game is starting to slow down in his head. In some of the games early, you could see the speed of the game impacted his decision-making and sometimes his shot. He’s been great for us all year.”

Defense wins in playoffs

The Jacksonville offense has been balanced all season, with three players scoring 13.4 points or more for the Crimsons (18-10, 9-8). But coach Cliff Cameron says his sixth-seeded squad that will take the court Wednesday against No. 4 Lincoln in the Lanphier Regional semifinals needs its defense.

“We’re more focused on defense right now because . . . we’ve played several different defenses and we’ve got to cover the shooters a little bit more,” Cameron said. “So our focus now is to make sure we’re playing the best defense possible. When we’re at our best, we’re playing good defense and we’re taking good shots.”

Jacksonville ends the regular season at Decatur MacArthur (16-11, 10-7).

Senators, Titans meet in 4A

Springfield High and Glenwood will travel 90 miles to play . . . each other.

The only two 4A teams in the CS8, the two teams will play in the first round of the Granite City Regional at 6 p.m. Monday. The No. 10-seeded Senators (6-20, 3-14) will be the home team against No. 11 Glenwood.

The cutoff between 3A and 4A is an enrollment of 1,368 students. Glenwood’s official IHSA enrollment for this school year is 1,402, while Springfield High is 1,446.

Small consolation

A win by Rochester (8-19, 2-15) in the season finale against Springfield High would pull the Rockets into a tie for ninth place with the Senators. It also will give the Rockets a better chance to reach the 10-win mark if they can beat SHG in the first round of the Lanphier Regional.

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